Sandy Koufax
A Lefty's Legacy
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“The incomparable and mysterious Sandy Koufax is revealed…. This is an absorbing book, beautifully written.” —Wall Street Journal
“Leavy has hit it out of the park…A lot more than a biography. It’s a consideration of how we create our heroes, and how this hero’s self perception distinguishes him from nearly every other great athlete in living memory… a remarkably rich portrait.” — Time
The instant New York Times bestseller, a definitive sports biography about the baseball legend and famously reclusive Dodgers’ pitcher Sandy Koufax, from award-winning former Washington Post sportswriter Jane Leavy. Sandy Koufax reveals, for the first time, what drove the iconic Jewish athlete and three-time Cy Young award winner to the pinnacle of baseball and then—just as quickly—into self-imposed exile.
This deeply researched biography reveals the man behind the myth:
A Lefty’s Legacy: A fascinating breakdown of the physics behind his legendary curveball and the biomechanics that made his fastball unstoppable.Brooklyn Dodgers History: A vivid portrait of 1950s Brooklyn, the sandlot culture that shaped a generation, and the Dodgers team that defined a borough.A Question of Faith: The inside story of his historic decision not to pitch the 1965 World Series opener on Yom Kippur, and how it cemented his place as a hero in the American Jewish community.An Abrupt Retirement: An unflinching look at the traumatic arthritis that ended his career at its absolute peak, forcing a famously private man into a self-imposed exile that created a legend.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sportswriter Leavy describes her book as not so much a biography of a ballplayer as a social history of baseball, with the former star pitcher's career as the barometer of change. While both a preface and an introduction spin Leavy's storytelling wheels, a compelling, literary social history does indeed get rolling. Koufax refused to participate in the project, so Leavy has spoken to hundreds of people with something to share on the former Brooklyn/L.A. Dodger Hank Aaron, Joe Torre, childhood friend and Mets co-owner Fred Wilpon and even the old Dodgers equipment manager among them and their testimonies make for a rich baseball pastiche and an engaging look at the game's more innocent period. Koufax capped off his first year by watching the 1955 World Series against the hated Yankees from the bench, and following the Dodgers' historic victory headed from Yankee Stadium to class at Columbia University, where he studied architecture (in case the baseball thing didn't work out). Even when Leavy's historical anecdotes are quaint, they prove timely: she details Koufax holding out for a better contract with fellow star pitcher Don Drysdale in '66, paving the way for free agency. While Leavy's interest in Koufax's Jewish heritage at times seems to border on the obsessive, she delivers an honest and exquisitely detailed examination of a complex man, one whose skills were such that slugger Willie Stargell once likened hitting against Koufax to "trying to drink coffee with a fork."
